Catonsville reaps benefits from 2014 Baltimore County budget

New classroom space — possibly a new school — and a park at Spring Grove Hospital Center are included in the 2014 Baltimore County budget unveiled by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz on Monday.

"That's some of the best news that I've heard in a long time," 1st District Councilman Tom Quirk. "The 500 new seats for elementary schools in Catonsville was very needed."

Other budget highlights include funding for a new STEM building at the Catonsville campus of the Community College of Baltimore County and $50,000 in funding for Neighbor Space, a land use organization. The budget requires no additional taxes, with no increase in the property tax rate for the 25th year in a row and no increase in the income tax rate for the 21st year in a row.

With many area elementary schools well over 100 percent capacity, the seats will serve as a welcome relief, Quirk said.

In a phone interview Monday, Kamenetz said deciding to add new elementary seats was easy.

"We have an aging school inventory combined with rising enrollment, and it requires tremendous investment," Kamenetz said.

However, he did not specify whether those seats in Catonsville would be in one new school or spread throughout one or more additions to existing schools.

"We're going to continue to work with the school system to try and identify how those seats will be filled," Kamenetz said.

Quirk said the funding was a critical first step in the process to alleviate overcrowding in the area.

"The most critical part of that is that the funding is there," he said.

Catonsville resident Maureen Sweeney Smith is thrilled to hear about the new seats in the area.

Her 22-year-old son went to Hillcrest Elementary School, which currently has 815 students enrolled, 149 more than the 666 maximum capacity for the building listed on the Baltimore County Public Schools website.

"It was crowded back then when he was there and then they put the addition on. Now it's crowded again," she said.

The proposed budget also includes $880,000 to create walking trails at three parks, including Catonsville Community Park, at 501 N. Rolling Road behind Giant Food, and $3.4 million for the creation of a regional park at the Spring Grove Hospital Center.

As a co-founder and board member for Catonsville Rails to Trails, Sweeney Smith is happy to hear about the additional funding toward creating a more walkable community.

By the end of August, motorists heading east on Frederick Road from Catonsville's commercial district toward Baltimore City will have a new landmark welcoming them to the Paradise neighborhood, a colorful mural that organizers hope will honor both the area's past and its future.

National Night Out activities Aug. 4 are planned to include a rally and a police-escorted motorcade of Baltimore County police, firefighters and volunteers from the nonprofit organization Towson Area Citizens On Patrol driving through all of TACOP's 25 neighborhoods to showcase crime prevention...

As for that idea I floated a few months ago: that Gov. Larry Hogan and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake should work together on a comprehensive, post-Freddie Gray, post-riot plan for the city's recovery. Forget about it. There are no takers.